My Goodness My Guinness...Stew!

This weekend I’ve been feeling particularly Irish. Now my wife and I enjoy most everything from the Celtic isle, so it’s not unusual (even though I’m 98% German and only 2% Irish – if even that.) Yesterday however, I was even talking around the house with an Irish accent. There was no one to stop me with my wife out of town. This whole weekend I also listened to Irish music. Only one time did I play something different, and that one time was bluegrass so I didn’t go too far off. It was mostly the Dubliners or the High Kings, but I did watch a documentary last night about The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

Continuing that Irish theme, I thought it a good idea to make Guinness stew. I searched a few recipes online and settled on this one. I did add some parsnips to the recipe and only used four potatoes instead six. However, the russets that I got at the grocery store could have qualified as being extra large. I still only put in two pounds of stew meat; however I ended up browning three. The grocery store for some reason only sold stew meat, or slabs of chuck for that matter, in 1 ½ pound packages. So I have some extra browned meat chunks in the fridge I guess for when I get peckish. The last change I made was to omit the water and cornstarch. It seemed to make a nice thick broth without it. The stew was hearty and dense enough.

The other change I made was starting it earlier in the day. With the big breakfast I made and the clean up afterword, I didn’t get the crock pot going and anything stewing until 1:30. Because of that, I went with the 6 hours on high method on the recipe. However, the parsnips were not quite done so it still needed maybe an hour longer (note, also cut the parsnips smaller).

Still, I was quite surprised at how incredibly good it was. The recipe didn’t call for any herbs (like bay leaf, rosemary, or sage) or even and salt or pepper. Without thwas so good, maybe even one of the best stews I’ve ever had. For a side, I picked up some beer bread at the grocery store and just refreshed it in the oven beforehand. Of course, I also had a nice pint of Guinness as well.

To end this post and end with the Irish theme, I thought I would share this video of a live performance of The High Kings doing their version of “The Parting Glass.” I may be a bit of a dork, but this video always gives me goose bumps and makes my eyes watery. To all my friends that I’ve shared a drink with, or to all those that I have yet to, this one goes out to you:

http://www.thehighkings.com/video/video-the-parting-glass/